Technology

Ive always loved gadgets and gizmos, especially those that make my life better. And with Shark Tank and Kickstarter and things like that, it seems like you cant go more than a day without learning about some new amazing product to solve some problem or other.
Over the years, Ive taken chances on lots of snake oil-like products. Some have been complete garbage, like a third-party Alexa-enabled smart speaker that i

Would a little Wi-Fi get millions of people to buy a turntable again?
Maybe, but probably not.
That hasnt stopped Japanese musical speaker and instrument giant Yamaha from its latest new product, a $699.99 Wi-Fi hi-fi.
The MusicCast VINYL

Facebook is sending a signal to Capitol Hill that its taking the integrity of its social network seriously during the U.S. primary election season.
The social networking giant hosted 250 or so media, civil servants and Facebook community mem

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says he fired the company’s top spokesman over use of the N-word.
The spokesman, Jonathan Friedland, confirmed in tweets that he was leaving the company, saying he was insensitive in speaking with his team abo

Several tech firms have opted to block EU residents from using their services because of concerns they are not compliant with a shake-up to the 28-nation blocs data privacy laws.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on Fr

Google has enraged a leading film-maker by using his footage in a corporate video that later leaked online.
The technology company used material from more than half a dozen of Philip Blooms films to make a provocative presentation about ways it co

Facebook has fired a security engineer accused of using his access to data to stalk women online.
Chief security officer Alex Stamos in a statement to the BBC said: "We quickly investigated this situation and immediately fired the person.&quo

Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal, is shutting down.
The firm was accused of improperly obtaining personal information on behalf of political clients.
According to Facebook, data a

Next month a new law will make the consequences of failing to protect personal data for banks and others far more serious.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on 25 May, will be the biggest shake-up to data privac

Google has started the global roll-out of its new Chat messaging service, which is designed to replace SMS text messages on Android phones.
Chat has features such as group texts, videos, typing indicators and read receipts, which are not available

Google is using its logo Thursday to honor a pioneer in geochemistry.
The companys latest doodle pays tribute to Katsuko Saruhashi, born on this day 98 years ago in Japan.
Saruhashi is credited with creating a table bearing her name accurately mea

YouTube is tightening its restrictions for content about guns and now forbids videos about the selling and making of firearms, ammunition and accessories.
The Google-owned video sharing site recently banned videos about how to convert firearms to

It was a technology that was supposed to bring peace love and understanding - but has the dream of the web as a force for good died?
Sir Tim Berners-Lee tells Tech Tent that he has become less optimistic about the beneficial effects of his crea

Flippy the burger-flipping robot that started work this week in a California restaurant has been forced to take a break because it was too slow.
The robot was installed at a Cali Burger outlet in Pasadena and replaced human cooks.
But after jus

Does buying a smartphone from certain Chinese brands expose you to spying?
Ordinarily you’d judge the Mate 10 Pro from Chinas Huawei on its its lovely 6-inch OLED display and exceptional battery life.
But there’s a bigger issu

Now its Siris turn.
Were about to find out if the HomePod smart speaker using digital assistant Siri that Apple — following a lengthy delay — finally starts shipping on Feb. 9 can lure listeners away from Amazons Alexa, and to a

The firing of Google engineer James Damore for suggesting men are more suited to technical roles than women has triggered a culture war inside the Internet giant, with some Google employees saying the company is not doing enough to protect them from

A British-based company that made smartphones costing thousands of pounds will be liquidated after a plan to save it failed.
Vertu was known for its high-end, jewel-encrusted handsets, but recently faced financial difficulties.
The companys liq

A Bupa employee inappropriately copied and removed information relating to 547,000 international health insurance plan customers, the company has said.
The data included names, dates of birth, nationalities, some contact and administrative informa

Decades’ worth of man-made junk is cluttering up Earth’s orbit, posing a threat to spaceflight and the satellites we rely on for weather reports, air travel and global communications.
More than 750,000 fragments larger than a centimete

When an Icelander arrives at an office building and sees “Solarfri” posted, they need no further explanation for the empty premises: The word means “when staff get an unexpected afternoon off to enjoy good weather.”
The peo

North Korea is more likely to wage a cyberattack against the United States than a military strike, according to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
As tensions build between Pyongyang and Washington in anticipation of possible military action

A Republican lawmaker provided a peculiar explanation Thursday in defense of his decision to recently back a controversial bill stripping privacy safeguards from internet users.
“Nobody’s got to use the internet,” Rep. F. James &

The federal government has abandoned its effort to compel Twitter for information involving an anti-Trump account after its request spurred the social networking service to file suit.
Twitter sued the Trump administration last week in response to

The New York Police Department is set to deploy the first body cameras to officers around the city after resolving some of the thorniest issues on when to switch on the camera, how long to keep the tape and when to tell the public they’re being

The Islamic State’s propaganda arm, Amaq, issued a warning Wednesday after its website was compromised in a manner that made visitors susceptible to cyberattacks.
Amaq took to its Telegram account on Wednesday after learning that individuals

Director David Yates and screenwriter J.K. Rowling’s successful cinematic expansion of the Harry Potter universe moves to ultra high-definition home theaters in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG-

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A bill meant to combat “revenge porn” seemed on its way to passage earlier this week in the Montana Legislature until an unexpected and still-unclear turn of events doomed it.
Two days after the state Senate

Name, birthdates and Social Security numbers of millions of job seekers from 10 states recently became compromised as the result of a newly disclosed data breach revealed Wednesday.
The FBI has reportedly launched an investigation upon being notif

The U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin plan to test a record-breaking laser weapon within months.
Lockheed Martin made national headlines in June 2015 when its 30-kilowatt ATHENA laser weapon destroyed a truck “within minutes.” The Maryland

ANALYSIS/OPINION:
“It’s better to do a few things well than to do many things poorly.” Such sayings become commonplace for a reason: They ring true.
Bakers can make great doughnuts, but that doesn’t mean they’ll ex

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that four defendants, including two officers of Russian security services, are being charged in connection with a massive Yahoo cybersecurity breach that occurred in 2014.
Yahoo disclosed in Septe

Verizon tried to acquire Yahoo’s online services for nearly $1 billion less than initially offered after the internet company acknowledged being the victim of two major data breaches, according to a regulatory filing Monday.
Both companies a

I am not a violent person. I’ve never punched anyone in the face, or kicked them in the knackers. Even in my netballing days on the pitiless Lancastrian high school circuit I was not one for scratching a rival when the referee wasn’t look

How Einstein’s equations about stimulating light, published 100 years ago today, were transformed into the backbone of the Internet.
On March 3, 1917, Albert Einstein published his revelation about how light is created by ‘stimulated e

The Florida launch pad from which astronauts once blasted off for the moon comes back to life this weekend thanks to the commercial space venture founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is pre

When you travel to the U.S., customs agents can search your smartphone, laptop and other electronic devices at will — a longtime policy that has attracted renewed scrutiny in light of President Donald Trumps controversial immigration ban.
Ca

In today’s modern world, technology advances at breakneck speeds and the auto industry is no exception.
Every year, automakers release new advancements in vehicle engines, electrification, connectivity and autonomous mobility.
The 49th&

And theres a lot of physical effort required of factory workers. The strain of repetitive motion can lead to various musculoskeletal injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis in the wrists, arms and shoulders. Risks of injury not o

Clarifications & Corrections: Corrects the Mazda model slated to be first with a diesel engine in the U.S.
Will your next car talk to traffic lights? Are diesel engines on their last gasp? Have electric vehicles charged into the ma

On this weeks Tech Tent we travel to Slush, one of the most relaxed and vibrant technology events you will find anywhere in the world. It is held in almost total darkness in a huge exhibition hall in Finlands capital Helsinki and feels more lik

As pressure mounts on firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to tackle fake news, some are taking things into their own hands.
Technologist Daniel Sieradski has developed a plug-in - known as BS Detector - that flags up "qu

The first thing I say when I wake up every morning is “Okay Google”.
Now don’t worry - it’s not shrieked amidst some kind of panicked, cold sweat. I’m not having nightmares about search engines, or even the prolon

If you see a disturbing post from a Facebook friend, you don’t have to leave the social network for help.
This week, Facebook’s Safety Center, a resource page with tips on bullying prevention and suicide hotlines, became available in m

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Fiber is halting its rollout in 10 cities and laying off staff as its chief executive Craig Barratt steps down, dealing a major setback to the Internet giants ambitions of blanketing the nation in super-speedy Internet.

Three months after saying it would shutter its MSN China web portal, Microsoft Corp. has decided instead to sell the business to a Chinese entity run by a former general manager at Microsoft Online.
Microsoft MSFT, -0.59%

If you’re that kind of rider who prefers to ride with prescription eyewear, then you might want to take a look at the new Oakley TruBridge technology. To make it simple, Oakley’s new R&D product can be recap as a frame

When Ibotta linked its mobile-app users to cash rebates from online stores three years ago, the experiment failed. Miserably.
“We felt the tools and technology weren’t good enough for our use case,” said Bryan Leach

It weighs 17 pounds, or around 8 kilograms -- a serious bit of heft, as we can attest from getting our hands on it at IFA here in Berlin.
Its the worlds first laptop with a curved screen...not to mention two (2) GeForce GTX 1080

NASA will pay $18,000 to anyone prepared to stay in bed for 10 weeks and submit to a gruelling regime of tests for more than three months. The only criteria are the candidates have to be healthy and American citizens.
Scientists will constantly

Adonit makes some of the best iPad styluses out there, and now its starting to make an iPad drawing app to help you sketch with them. The app, called Forge, is being released today. Its specifically designed to work with Adonits

Leica is releasing another jealousy-inducing camera, this time featuring a gorgeous, custom design from musician Lenny Kravitz. This isnt a brand new model, just a redesigned version of the existing Leica M-P, but it has a stylish overhaul that

The BlackBerry Classic will launch on Verizon Wireless this Thursday, February 26th. Youll be able to buy its "familiar design and iconic keyboard" — two things BlackBerry has really found itself clinging to — for $99.99 o

Microsoft is opening up its cloud storage service, OneDrive, to developers today so they can start integrating it directly into applications. A new OneDrive API will include support for Windows, iOS, Android, and the web, with the full features